1st Official week as a Missionary here in Jackson Mississippi!

There are wild frogs and turtles all over the road, usually as roadkill, but sometimes you can find them alive

Wowwie Bajebers it's been such a week!

This past week has been completely bonkers! So the first day, which was last week on Tuesday, I went to the home we stay in. That's right, Elder Hill and I stay in a home, not an apartment, how cool is that!? But the first few days I was experiencing a LOT of stress like I've never felt before: I'm being forced to change to a new companion, I'm getting out into the real mission field, I'm talking with real investigators, a lot was going on in my mind. But I realized that there are five things that I do that help me to relieve stress when I'm feeling stressed: 1) Do the dishes. 2) Sweep/vacuum the house. 3) Work out. 4) Write in my journal. 5) Pray or read scriptures, or other church literature. I've found that being busy somehow helps to relieve my stress and anxiety, especially when I do these things while listening to good ol' Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Here's our blessed pull up bar with the weight set in the back

ANYWAYS... Our house has a small weight set and a pull up bar, which I am VERY grateful for. So I try to use that for at least 30-45 minutes every night after dinner. We also get a car for our mission, so hot diggaty dog to that! There was a new area opened up this week in Brooke Haven, so we had to forfeit the car for this week, and since I don't have a bike, we walked everywhere. Literally everywhere. We probably walked about 9-10 miles a day on average except for on Sunday. But come this Wednesday we can get the car, so that's pretty cool, and a change for once. Elder Hill and I are getting pretty tan from all the walking, and I'm surprised I'm actually tanning and not burning, It's a Christmas miracle!

So many of the people we have met are not working and just rely on welfare and food stamps, and people just sit outside on their front porch all day talking with neighbors, drinking, smoking, playing card games, not really doing anything. The funny part is when you approach them to talk about the gospel, they LOVE to talk about Jesus, but when you bring up the Book of Mormon they will don't want to talk to us unless we just talk about the Bible. We've got a lot of investigators, but very few that are making any progression which is kinda hard. We actually met with some Jehovah's Witnesses and there are a lot of Baptists here.

cicadas are everywhere man

So the weather is pretty humid down here, and there becomes a point where you realize wiping the sweat off your face is just a waste of time, because it all shows up about 30 seconds later. And there are tons of cicadas (funny type of bug) everywhere: no matter where you go outside, you can always here them humming extremely loudly in the distance.

This is Johathan, he was the 14 year old teacher
who went working w/us almost all day Saturday

Saturday we went proselyting with a member. His name is Jonathan, and he's 14 years old and is stinking hilarious! He showed up at around noon at our house and he worked with us until about 8:00 that night, so we were really grateful for his help. It's funny, because I realize that getting up in the morning isn't as hard as I thought it would be. It's still tough, don't get me wrong, but definitely not as hard as I thought it would be, and working throughout the day gets you tired, but you don't feel that fatigue until you get home during the night when there's still planning, studying, journal writing, all that stuff. But as tired as we are, Elder Hill and I are always obedient in everything we do, even though it's definitely tempting to turn back some of my old music on, or just sleep during personal study instead of actually studying, but I know that the more obedient I am, the more blessed I will be.

I love all you guys, I want to give y'all a big hug, and I can definitely feel your prayers all the way on the other side of the country. Stay safe, keep doing what Heavenly Father wants you to do, pray always, and make sure to hold fast to the iron rod, even though I know at times it really isn't the most convenient thing, but it's the right thing.